What Money Means To Me NOW

 

Assuming you have access to unlimited wealth, make yourself a wish list.

Use the brainstorming technique — put down everything that comes into your mind, no matter what it is, how off the wall it might seem, how expensive or how cheap it is, and so on. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you want it. Don’t censure or judge what comes to mind. If it pops into your mind, list it.

 

The meaning that money and wealth will have for you, and the ways in which it will add value to your life is to a large extent governed by the meaning you give your own life. This is obviously different for every person, though even for you it is also likely to change according to current circumstances and what stage of life you are at. What is important to you and a priority in your twenties is almost certainly going to be different to when you are in your sixties.

 

Now, to some degree it may be that life has been defined for you by the limitations imposed by your financial circumstances. If you were dirt-poor, living in an impoverished community, then life’s meaning is likely to have been little more than mere survival. On the other hand, if you had been brought up in a very wealthy family, the source of income being a family business handed down from generation to generation, it might be that your life’s meaning is defined for you around being the next leader of the family firm, whether it was a fit for you or not. It is unlikely that you would be living your true purpose in either circumstance because you didn’t choose it.

 

Yet there might have been a measure of comfort in either situation since, because your life was, in a sense, defined for you, you didn’t have to think beyond that. However, as you begin to multiply your income and become rich, free of financial limitations, you will begin having to take responsibility for making your own life. And for that you need a sense of purpose.

 

This is important because without a strong sense of purpose, money will have very little real value to you. Money for its own sake is valueless. It’s what you do with money that matters and what you do with it depends on your values. And what your values are tends to define who you are and sets the purpose for your life.

 

So, what is your purpose? Is your life guided by a sense of purpose or mission, or have you more or less just floated through life up to now? Do you have a dream to fulfill? A mission, perhaps? Or not? Are you currently fulfilled in your work or life? What’s missing? Did you give up a dream to accommodate someone else’s needs or demands? Did you trade a dream for safety, conformity, love, money, status, power? Are you searching for a purpose?

 

Before you attempt to answer these questions, let’s put this in perspective and be quite clear about one thing. Just being who you authentically are is your primary purpose. Everything else is secondary. That said, however, our human journey may well involve other specific intentions of a spiritual nature that we have agreed to take on, either before incarnating or to be gathered during our lifetime. These are definitely secondary to the primary one of just being human, but they can give our lives added meaning in human terms. They are usually oriented towards serving others in some profound and meaningful way and can involve the sharing of one’s particular gifts and talents. Many people feel that they haven’t really connected with their purpose in any real sense and so they feel unfulfilled. This worksheet will help you touch into the part of yourself that others experience as a valuable contribution to their lives.

A Buddhist monk known to a very good friend of Colin’s, Darryl Dennis, said something that changed her life and gave Darryl her life’s mission. He said, “Every person must be given the opportunity to contribute a part of him/herself to something bigger than him/herself at least once during his or her lifetime. If not they will feel that their life has been without meaning or purpose.” Ever since that moment Darryl’s mission has been to teach people to contribute to others and to show that simply having the intention to give value is a powerful business strategy.

So let’s begin by asking, what is it that you have, that if you were to contribute it to others, would add value to their lives? Let’s start by listing your skills, talents and gifts. Don’t censure or evaluate them. No matter how insignificant they are, list everything you can think of that might count as a skill, talent or gift — something you are good at.